Velcroman1 writes: An interplanetary trip to Mars could take as little as 10 months, but returning would be virtually impossible — making the voyage a form of self-imposed exile from Earth unlike anything else in human history. What would inspire someone to volunteer?

A special edition of the Journal of Cosmology details exactly how a privately-funded, one-way mission to Mars could depart as soon as 20 years from now — and it prompted more than 400 readers to volunteer as colonists. "I've had a deep desire to explore the universe ever since I was a child and understood what a rocket was," said Peter Greaves, the father of three, and a jack-of-all-trades who started his own motorcycle dispatch company and fixes computers and engines on the side. "I envision life on Mars to be stunning, frightening, lonely, quite cramped and busy," he said. Given the difficulties of the mission, Lana Tao, the editor of the Journal, said she was surprised by the response. "At first we thought the e-mails were a joke... then we realized they were completely serious."